Shakespeare in Ten Acts

Fantastic exhibition at the British Library to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare.

The show took the novel approach of focusing on ten performances which showed different aspects of the development of the performance and influence of the plays. As a prologue it had some amazing documents from the handwritten accusations against Christopher Marlowe, a First Folio and various editions of the plays published in his lifetime.

Two of the performances were from Shakespeare’s time, the first Hamlet at the Globe and the first play he wrote specifically for the Blackfriars indoor theatre, The Tempest. The Hamlet gave them the chance to look at different actor’s interpretation of the character. It also looked at the actors of the day and their stories. The Tempest section featured props from the Sam Wannamaker Theatre which I love.

Other sections used specific performances to investigate themes. One looked at the first Hamlet to be performed outside Europe, on an East India Company ship, to look at overseas performances and influence. A performance from 1660 of Othello which featured the first female actor in the play was used to highlight the role of women actors both in the early days and iconic performances since. It is such a shame that we don’t know the name of that first actress. The 1825 performance of Othello starring Ira Aldridge, a black actor, was used to investigate race in the plays and in particular how we have moved away from the idea of a white actor ‘blacking up’ to play the role of the Moor.

The show finished by looking at how Shakespeare is performed now. Taking the 2002 Globe version of Twelfth Night, where Mark Rylance played Olivia, they showed a trend experimenting with original style productions to learn more about the text. Then taking at 2013 production of Hamlet which incorporates film of the 1964 Broadway producing with Richard Burton to show a digital interpretation.

Closes on 6 September 2016.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my...
Read more

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B...
Read more

The Renaissance Nude

Image
Beautiful exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the nude in Renaissance art. The show was gently themed but mainly let the pictures speak for themselves. It began by looking at the subjects, both religious and secular, which include nude figures then examined techniques and models used in these works, finishing by looking at more personal pictures. This is a period I’ve studied a lot so there were a lot of old friends and it was quite fun predicting what might appear. There were a few surprises too such as the rather surprising drawing of the Ecstatic Christ. I liked the fact the show included lots of different art forms not just paintings including sculpture, etchings, drawings and illuminated manuscripts. There were some fascinating hangs to draw comparisons particularly two sets of pictures by Giovanni Bellini and Hand Memling from almost exactly the same date. These were shown back to back in a display cabinet down the middle of one room. My favourite work was ...
Read more